On Tuesday, Houston will play its first of two CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal matches against Mexican club Santos Laguna. The two teams will square off at BBVA Compass Stadium on Tuesday, before concluding the series at Estadio Corona in Torreon on Wednesday, March 14.

After a sluggish start to their LigaMX campaign, Santos has rebounded of late to the tune of back-to-back wins and a three-game unbeaten streak.

Los Guerreros followed up their win over second place Club America with a 3-1 win over Jaguares de Chiapas. U.S. men's national team striker Herculez Gomez scored two goals for Santos, while Mexican national team striker Oribe Peralta added a third. Peralta currently leads Santos with five goals on the season and is tied for third in LigaMX.

With the win, Santos improved to 4-3-2 and sits in sixth place in the league, only six points behind first place Tigres UANL. If the Dynamo advance past Santos in the two-game series, they will face the winner of the Tigres / Seattle Sounders quarterfinal series.

It's important to note that while the Dynamo have a bye from MLS play next weekend, Santos will host Atlante on Friday night.

On Friday, Santos upset second-place Club America at Estadio Corona, defeating the Mexico City-based club 1-0 behind a first-half goal from Darwin Quintero. The goal was Quintero's second of the season and his second in as many games.

Friday's match was a chippy affair between the two Mexican clubs, as seven yellow cards were handed out. Former Mexican national team goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez made three saves for his fourth clean sheet of the season.

Current men's national team striker Herculez Gomez played 62 minutes for Los Guerreros, while current Mexican national team striker Oribe Peralta played the full 90 minutes and assisted on Quintero's goal.

Following the win, Santos now sits in sixth place in the LigaMX standings. Here is a list of their upcoming fixtures:

Although we are only three-and-a-half weeks away from opening day, we are also just four weeks away from the Dynamo's first CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal match against Mexican club Santos Laguna (March 5, 7 pm, BBVA Compass Stadium).

Houston will host Santos in the first leg of their home-and-home series, with the winner advancing to the semifinals to face the winner of Seattle Sounders / Tigres UANL. That match will be broadcast nationally on FOX Soccer and can be heard locally on 1560 AM (English) and 850 AM (Spanish).

To get you in the mood for Champions League soccer, each week, we'll provide you an update on how Santos is performing in Liga MX.

Despite transfering Argentinian midfielder Daniel Ludueña and Ecuadoran midfielder Christian Suárez to Pachuca in the offseason, Los Guerreros have had a strong start to the 2013 Clausura campaign. Santos is currently 2-1-2 (8 points) through their first five games and sit in sixth place in Liga MX.

Mexican national team striker Oribe Peralta leads the club with four goals and former Mexican national team goakeeper Oswaldo Sanchez has three shutouts in the first five matches.

Last week, Santos played Pumas to a scoreless draw at Estadio Olimpico Universitaro in Mexico City. The match included a header off the post by U.S. men's national team forward Herculez Gomez and s penalty kick save by Sanchez.

This is the best 0-0 game I've seen in a while. Penalty saved, two goal line clearances, and several other good shots and saves. #LigaMX

With the Houston Dynamo down a goal 64 minutes into Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League match, there were any number of players on the field and bench that could have produced the necessary equalizer. It should be no surprise, though, that the equalizer came from Andre Hainault, a Canadian defender who has a knack for scoring big goals for the Dynamo. Let's take a look at some of his most important goals in Hainault's Dynamo career.

1. Houston Dynamo vs. Portland Timbers - 10/15/11

With the Dynamo's playoff fate in the balance, Houston went to the fortress of JELD-WEN Field and came away with a 2-0 victory. Hainault put the Dynamo on the board in the first half with a header off a Brad Davis corner kick. The win - and other results that weekend - clinched a playoff spot for Houston and helped kick start the Dynamo's run to the MLS Cup final.

2. Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City - 11/6/11

With a berth in the MLS Cup final on the line, the Dynamo traveled to LIVESTRONG Sporting Park to face the top seeded Sporting Kansas City. Although Houston lost team MVP Brad Davis in the first half to a quad injury, the Dynamo continued to fight, and took a 1-0 lead in 53rd minute. After goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen stopped Jermaine Taylor's initial attempt off an Adam Moffat free kick, Hainault was there to knock the loose ball into the net and punch the Dynamo's ticket to the MLS Cup final.

3. Houston Dynamo vs. Olimpia - 10/23/12

The Dynamo needed only a draw to win Group 3 and advance to the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. But between Douglas Caetano's first half goal and and some questionable officiating, the Dynamo's chances of earning a point or more looked slim. That all changed in the 65th minute, when the Dynamo took advantage of one of their eight corner kicks on the evening. Nathan Sturgis curled a perfectly placed ball into the box and Hainault used his size advantage to redirect the ball past Olimpia goalkeeper Donis Escober, giving Houston a 1-1 tie and a berth in the quarterfinals.

4. Houston Dynamo vs. Philadelphia Union - 10/30/11

The Dynamo traveled to PPL Park for the first leg of a conference semifinal series with the Philadelphia Union. It did not take long for the visitors to prove they were a playoff contender, as Hainault's fifth-minute goal, set the tone for the match. Although Sebastien Le Toux leveled the match only minutes later, Calen Carr's goal in the 30th minute sealed the 2-1 win and brought home-field advantage back to Robertson Stadium.

5. Houston Dynamo vs. Chivas USA - 3/11/12

The Dynamo went 15 road games in 2011 without winning one. Hainault made sure that would not happen in 2012, scoring the decisive goal in a 1-0 win over Chivas USA in the season's opening match at The Home Depot Center.

If the Dynamo win or draw vs. Olimpia on Tuesday night, they will finish first in Group C and advance to the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions quarterfinals. The real fun begins next March, when the Dynamo play a home-and-home series with an opponent to be determined, for the right to advance to the semifinals.

Under CONCACAF regulations, the eight group winners will advance to the quarterfinals and will be paired based on their results in group play as follows:

1. Team 1 vs. Team 8
2. Team 2 vs. Team 7
3. Team 3 vs. Team 6
4. Team 4 vs. Team 5

The top four group winners with the best records will host the second leg in the quarterfinal stage. Should two or more group stage winners finish with the same number of points, tie-breakers will be used to determined the final eight seeds. Those tie-breakers are:

1. Best Goal Difference
2. Most Goals Scored
3. Most Goals Scored Away from home
4. Most Wins
5. Most Away Wins
6. Drawing of Lots

What does this all mean for the Dynamo? Currently, Houston has 7 points in their group and has a +6 goal differential. If the Dynamo win tonight, they will finish with 10 points. Only four group winners can finish with more than ten points, so depending on how the results go over the next three days, the final seeding could come down to goal differential. If the Dynamo can win and add on to their +6 goal differential, they will go into the quarterfinal stage in a better position.

To put this into perspective, if the CCL group stage ended now, the Dynamo would be seeded sixth, behind the four teams with 9 points and behind the LA Galaxy who also have 7 points but have a +7 goal differential. A lot can happen over the next three days, so we'll revisit this after Thursday night's matches.